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Friday, 18 September 2015

We have now installed the cupola! It was seven and a half hour process for the three of us.I will give you some of the stages of design and installation to indicate the transformation.The cupola originally looked like this:

The original appearance with dirt and paint

The design was quickly settled to be of the period of the house, putting it into the Arts Nouveau style. After some playing around with ideas, I submitted this design to the client.

First pass at a design

I of course, got totally involved with elongated shapes. Upon presenting this I was reminded of the client's statement that roses were required. So, a second stage was required. You can see some penciled rose shapes on the first design paper.This was the second and approved design:

Second penciled design over laid on the first

At this stage the colour choices were made between the client and me.Templates were checked again and final measurements made. The full size cartoons were drawn up and the construction then began of the eight panels. Some indication has been given of this in earlier posts.The kind of transformation that was to be created was revealed when the old glass was removed.

Cupola ready for installation of the panels

The amount and quality of light flooding into the hallway was amazing. This photo shows the difference in the light from the original glazing.The cleaning of the checks and installation of support bars began.

Just over half way installed.

This view shows that there is still a lot of light being allowed through the seedy clear glass and the textured coloured glass, although the features of the underside of the ceiling is diffused. There continued to be a bit of jiggling and adjustment to get the design to flow as intended. But the installation was completed to the satisfaction of the client (most important) and me.

The completed cupola

This has been an arduous project, but one which has left me happy. I made the choice to move away from the traditional use of one design in a repetition toward realising an image for the whole cupola. This makes more sense in modern terms (although not in economic ones). It is less frequently chosen, as there is more design work - making a single design eight times larger than a single panel. There is also much more care and effort required to get the flow of the design to meet over the whole opening. But, I think it has given a much more pleasing result that can provide interest over time as new elements are discovered by the viewers.A chandelier will hang from the central pendant post, which will reflect the colours at night especially as the spotlights above transfer the light to the glass pendants of the chandelier.